


Exit Point

by Laylah



Category: Naruto
Genre: Bugs & Insects, Canon Divergence, Captivity, M/M, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 08:13:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9595550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laylah/pseuds/Laylah
Summary: "They seem to like you," Shino says, because it's still novel to have someone outside the clan be so calm around them."And I find them fascinating," Orochimaru says, raising his hand and watching the kikaichu climb the pad of his thumb. "Show me more."





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heeroluva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heeroluva/gifts).



> So I liked the idea in your prompts of an AU where Orochimaru didn't manage to escape the village after his unsavory behavior was discovered -- here's one where he's been kept captive in secret, until someone who wasn't supposed to know about him stumbled into his prison.

Shino makes his way through the woods slowly, alert for anything out of the ordinary. The sun is going down and the insect life of the forest is changing accordingly, the diurnal bees and beetles finding places to sleep as their nocturnal cousins start to wake. Shino is looking for rare specimens that might have traits worth introducing into his kikaichu colonies. So far this expedition hasn't yielded anything unusual, but he hasn't given up hope. He's reached an area he's never explored before, where the pine forest gives way to craggy boulders, and he has a good feeling about this.

Then, at the edge of the boulders, he finds something strange. He sends his bugs out to explore the area, and a group of them fly straight through a solid rock face.

Shino reaches out. The rock feels solid under his hand, warm from the afternoon sun, rough-textured. But to the bugs it's clearly not there. He focuses his attention on that spot, reaching out to feel the bugs' impressions of the place. There's no sun-warm rock, no roughness, no barrier....

The genjutsu dissolves as he recognizes it. When it's gone, he's looking at a tunnel, boring into the rock and sloping downward below the surface.

This is probably dangerous. There are seals of some kind circling the entrance to the tunnel. He should go back to the village and report to someone.

But wouldn't it be better to have something to report?

He sends a cloud of bugs down the tunnel. Their impressions are easy to follow at first—the dark, the plain rock faces, the faint draft—but then they reach a room and their sensations turn to chaos, a jumble of light and motion and power that doesn't make any sense.

Shino hesitates for a second. He still doesn't have anything concrete to report.

He steps over the seals on the floor and nothing happens. His bugs circle him, a protective humming cloud, as he walks slowly down the tunnel. There's a light at the far end, soft yellow, and as he gets closer to it he can smell something strange on the air. He stops near the tunnel's end, not quite stepping into the room.

"It's all right, you know," says a man's voice from inside, smooth and gentle. "You can come in."

Well, there went any chance of surprise.

Shino ducks into the room, crossing what looks like another inactive barrier. It's like somebody's study, out here in the middle of nowhere, with a broad table in the center of the room and shelves along the walls full of scrolls and jars. "Sorry to disturb you."

"Not at all. I'm happy to have company," the man says. He's standing on the far side of the room, watching Shino come in. He's nobody Shino has ever seen before, a tall man with long hair and an angular face, wearing a kimono patterned with the Leaf crest. He smiles as he meets Shino's eyes. The scout kikaichu cling to his outstretched hand, crawling over his palm and between his fingers. "Are these little ones yours?"

"....Yes," Shino says when he can get the word unstuck from his throat. Nobody's ever this comfortable around them. Most people can't wait to get away.

"You must be an Aburame, then." The man comes closer, still smiling. His eyes are yellow and slit-pupiled. "I've never had the chance to examine one of you before."

Shino takes an involuntary step back. "Who are you?"

The man raises his eyebrows as if he's surprised. "Do they not tell new genin cautionary tales about Orochimaru anymore?" Something about his eyes makes it hard to look away.

"No," Shino rasps. More of his bugs leave their colonies, surfacing to swarm over his skin. They can sense that he's off-balance, unsettled by this encounter. It's comforting, knowing they're always ready to protect him.

"Ah, it doesn't matter. It's been a long time." Orochimaru holds out his hand, the kikaichu still clinging to it. "Would your little friends like to return home?"

"They seem to like you," Shino says, because it's still novel to have someone outside the clan be so calm around them.

"And I find them fascinating," Orochimaru says, raising his hand and watching the kikaichu climb the pad of his thumb. "Show me more."

"You're a stranger in a hidden cave in the middle of nowhere," Shino says, bracing himself in case he's starting a fight. "Why should I trust you that much?"

Orochimaru laughs. "A stranger from your own village, at least."

"One who expected there to be cautionary tales about him," Shino points out.

"Don't they tell stories about you, too?" Orochimaru asks.

Of course they do. Shino's heard plenty of whispers. He hesitates.

"I probably shouldn't be showing you this," Orochimaru says. "But I'm asking you to share a secret with me, after all." He pushes his kimono off one shoulder and shrugs his arm free of it, the motion weirdly liquid and boneless, and turns slightly so Shino can see: he has an Anbu tattoo stark against the pale skin of his upper arm. Shino stares. He's learned from shinobi who were probably in Anbu—and everyone gossips about who they think wears the mask—but he's never met one for certain before. "I study rare and difficult techniques," Orochimaru goes on. "It can be dangerous work. That's why I'm out here."

"And that's why you want to see more of what my bugs can do."

"They nest inside your body, don't they?" He sounds fascinated. Maybe even admiring. "How do they get in and out?"

Shino pulls up one sleeve, arm extended to display the hole bored into the inside of his wrist. "They have a network of tunnels under my skin. This is one of their exit points."

Orochimaru reaches out and brushes his fingertips over the ring of scar tissue that surrounds the entrance. Despite himself, Shino shivers. Outside of sparring, people don't touch him. He's too creepy.

But Orochimaru doesn't seem to care. His hand wraps around Shino's wrist, his thumb stroking slowly at the edges of the scar. The kikaichu crawl out to investigate and he doesn't pull back, only smiles. "What a wonderful body you have," he murmurs.

Shino flushes hot. He's taking that the wrong way, he knows he is. It's just a comment on the specialized techniques the Aburame have developed, not... anything else, despite what that gentle touch feels like.

Orochimaru licks his lips, hums softly. "I want to see more." His eyes glitter, slit pupils widening, and he reaches out with his other hand to take hold of the zipper on Shino's jacket. "Show me." He doesn't wait for an answer, just starts tugging the zipper down.

"There's not... that much to see," Shino says, realizing as he says it how bad _that_ sounds. 

Orochimaru smirks. "Isn't there?" He pushes the halves of the jacket back and rucks up Shino's mesh. Kikaichu cluster around his wrists and spiral up his arms, and he ignores them. The impressions they feed back to Shino are almost alarming—the richness of chakra, the sense of immense and hidden strength.

But he's being _touched_. By somebody who doesn't find the bugs unpleasant, who doesn't think that hosting them is disgusting. Somebody who said it was wonderful. "You know," Shino says. "This looks pretty, um."

"Does that bother you?" Orochimaru's fingertips have found another of the colony exit points, just above Shino's navel, and he's stroking the scar like it's an erogenous zone. It could be, if he keeps that up.

He doesn't have to be worried, Shino thinks. He has his kikaichu in position already, if anything goes wrong. "No," he whispers.

"That's what I thought." Orochimaru lets his hand drift further down, to cup Shino's stiffening cock through his pants. "Feels like you don't mind at all."

This is too fast, too sudden, too... _something_ , and Shino doesn't say stop. His hips want to buck forward, to grind into that friction. He tries to keep thinking about the situation rationally. "What—what do you want?"

"To live forever and learn every secret the world holds," Orochimaru says. He takes a step, backing Shino up toward the wall. "But for tonight, I'll settle for some companionship. I don't get many visitors out here."

Is that an evasive answer? Shino wishes he were more certain. "Then—"

He doesn't get any further than that before Orochimaru's mouth descends on his, tongue pressing past his lips and filling his mouth. His kikaichu buzz under his skin, echoing his alarm, but it's not _quite_ too much and Orochimaru's hand is stroking him and he flushes hot all over with the unfamiliar touch. His hands drop to his waistband to unbutton his pants. Orochimaru laughs into his mouth and takes the invitation, reaching in and wrapping a cool hand around his shaft, and Shino can't hold back the groan.

It feels so different to have someone else's hand on him. It shouldn't but it does, little changes in temperature and pressure and friction that add up to a whole new experience. Shino clings to the front of Orochimaru's kimono and hitches his hips up into the touch, his breath stuttering and his kikaichu thrumming in echo of his excitement. He's letting himself be distracted, isn't he? This whole situation is strange. He should be wary. But it feels good and he wants touch so badly and when he looks into Orochimaru's eyes it feels like everything will be all right.

Climax comes too fast, a rippling pulse of chakra through his body as his back arches away from the wall, his knees buckling so he struggles to keep his balance. Orochimaru finally releases his mouth, pulling back enough to look down at him with a pleased, hungry smile. Shino licks his lips. They feel swollen. A few of his scouts explore his skin, tasting the changes in his pheromones.

Orochimaru's hand closes around his throat. "And now it's time for you to do something for me."

"Let go," Shino says.

"You should be grateful for the chance to help me," Orochimaru says. He's too close for a kick to be effective, hips pressed close against Shino's, his body warm through the layers of clothing.

Shino struggles anyway. "Let go," he repeats, his voice thick through the pressure on his throat. The kikaichu swarm out of him, crawling over his skin, urgent with the need to protect their home. "What do you want?"

"This body can do things that very few people can," Orochimaru says. His eyes glitter and the blood roars in Shino's ears. "I want it for my own."

"You—what—" Shino pulls at the hand on his throat, desperate for a deep breath. His kikaichu boil out of his wrists in a cloud, covering Orochimaru's body, swarming, hungry. For a second the weight of Orochimaru's chakra bears down on him, smothering him with deadly intent, and he's afraid he won't make it—but then the grip on his throat loosens enough that he can fight his way free of it, coughing. He stumbles away from Orochimaru's bug-covered form, gasping for breath, feeling the humming excitement of his kikaichu as they consume the most potent meal they've ever had.

For a few awful seconds he just stands there, frozen, watching his bugs drain the chakra out of someone. Orochimaru drops to his knees, reaching out blindly, and Shino backs away. He needs to get out of here. He needs to get back to the village.

Shino grabs calls his bugs back to him and runs.

* * *

The boy's footsteps fade into the distance as he flees for the safety of Konoha. Orochimaru waits until he can't hear them anymore, then pulls himself slowly to his feet. It's work; he's drained to the point where he aches all over and he'd like to sleep for a week. Really, he's lucky the Aburame boy was too inexperienced and soft to finish the job, or the kikaichu could have killed him.

Well. "Lucky." Predicting outcomes correctly, and taking necessary risks.

For those risks to pay off, he needs to take advantage of them now. The boy might report to someone when he gets back to the village, and that someone might send out a squad to investigate.

Orochimaru steps out of the cell. The barrier attuned to his chakra, the one Danzo has used to keep him here for so long, doesn't so much as flicker. He limps down the corridor, one hand on the wall for support. It isn't that far to the surface but he still has to stop once to catch his breath and recover what little strength he can.

There's a second barrier at the exit, the seals written in bold forbidding characters across the floor and up the walls. Like the first one, it was created to react specifically to Orochimaru's chakra. He takes a deep breath and steps through.

The moon is full, outside. The air is cool and fresh and smells like pine. Even half-dead and dizzy with the effort of standing upright, it's a beautiful night. Orochimaru takes a minute to orient himself, then stumbles into the woods, away from Konoha.

He'll recover. He'll grow stronger. And then he'll come back, to show his gratitude for Konoha's hospitality all these years.

And just maybe he'll find that Aburame boy again, and thank him personally.


End file.
